If at the end of your mixing session you try to put your mix in mono and you find out that some elements disappear or become lifeless you are likely having some phase issues.
Even if nowadays music is mainly played on stereo systems there are still a lot of scenarios in which your music must sound good in mono. For example clubs, phones, laptops and bluetooth speakers.
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1. Use a plugin
2. Start the mix in mono
3. Fix the phase on the timeline
4. Pitch Shifting
1. Use a plugin
Obviously there are some plugins that have been specifically made to solve this issues.
Here’s a list of our favorites:
Many of them automatically shift the regions on the timeline while other offer different alternatives to solve this issues
If you want to be sure about mono compatibility the safest way is to start mixing in mono. In this case you have to do eq, compress, saturate and make your mix sounds as good as possible in mono. Then you can start working on the stereo image and “open up” the mix.
Even if this approach might be too radical it’s extremely useful because you’ll start to understand phase issues and it’ll be easier for your to spot them in other mixes.
This approach can work if you record some closely linked sources, such as numerous guitar or bass microphones.
Because phase issues are caused by different timing, they may be resolved by moving areas of the audio region by a tiny amount. Zoom in on the problematic clips and be sure to align their waveforms so that they start together until they are no longer canceling.
Another great method that you can use is detuning your signal by a few cents. There are a lot of pitch shift plugins that will do for this case like Waves SoundShifter Pitch.
Just apply the plugin on the track an detune your signal by a small amount (even 10 cents can be enough sometimes). However, you also have to be sure that this procedure isn’t changing the sounds of your track.
Phase is not a complicated concept to understand but it often causes struggles among producers since it’s not easily detectable. However, thanks to this guide you’ll be able to correctly approach phase problems and deal with their destructive effects
